


Day 24: Secret Injury

by evilwriter37



Series: Whumptober 2019 [24]
Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Astrid!Whump, Blood, Gen, Stitches, Whump, Wounded
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 09:57:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21159782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwriter37/pseuds/evilwriter37
Summary: Astrid tries her best to hide her arrow wound from Hiccup.





	Day 24: Secret Injury

“Astrid, are you limping?”

Astrid quickly straightened, shoved Heather’s arms away from her.

“What? No.” She didn’t want Hiccup knowing she’d been hurt. He had enough to worry about. She shot Heather a look, hoping her expression conveyed all this. It must have, because Heather, who knew about the wound, said nothing.

Hiccup folded his arms, eyeing her up and down. “It looked like you were limping.”

“I’m just tired,” Astrid told him, which was also true. It had been a long fight, especially since she’d been hurt for about half of it. She had to get back to her hut and check her leg. She was grateful her leggings were dark and hiding the flow of blood.

Astrid didn’t stick around for Hiccup’s after-battle speech, just went off to her hut to take care of her leg, making sure to conceal her limp.

There was a lot Astrid had to do before she could actually sit and tend her wound. She had to take her boots and leggings off, light a candle, get a bowl of water, a cloth, a needle, and some thread. As she was putting the needle through the flame of the candle to sterilize it, she heard the door open. She turned, saw Hiccup, and quickly scrambled to hide what it was she was doing.

“Astrid, it’s okay.” Hiccup came in, the door shutting behind him. He took her hands to steady her.

Astrid frowned. “Did Heather tell you?”

“She didn’t have to.” Hiccup sat on the bed beside her, then took her leg and gingerly lifted it up into his lap. He didn’t seem to care about getting her blood on his pants. Or his hands, for that matter, as he was now picking up the wet cloth and cleaning the blood that had gone down her leg. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Astrid sighed, watching him clean up her own blood. “I didn’t want you to worry. It’s no big deal.”

“Astrid, an arrow to the leg isn’t exactly something you walk off.” He dabbed at the wound and Astrid winced, repositioned her leg. “That’s what it was, right?” He was peering at the hole in her. “An arrow?”

Astrid nodded. “It was coming for Stormfly so I blocked it.”

Hiccup shook his head. “Would you use a shield if I made you one?”

“Probably not,” Astrid answered honestly. She liked wielding her axe with two hands.

Hiccup carefully moved Astrid’s leg off of himself. He got off the bed, began rummaging through one of Astrid’s chest.

“What are you looking for?”

“Alcohol. There was Dragon Root in you. We have to disinfect it.”

_ Well, shit _ . Astrid hadn’t thought of that. That was going to hurt.

Finally, Hiccup came up with a bottle, smiling triumphantly. Next, he found a towel and had Astrid position her leg over it. He uncorked the bottle, held it over her leg…

Astrid slammed her hands down and gave a cry as the wound began to burn. It fizzed and frothed as Hiccup poured the alcohol over it. She gritted her teeth, trying not to make another sound, but a groan came out. Tears burned in her eyes and she quickly blinked them away. Dammit, she was stronger than this!

“Okay, okay, good job,” Hiccup said. He reached to put the bottle down on the floor, then thought better of it and passed it to Astrid. She gratefully took it, drank some as Hiccup toweled her leg dry.

“Now for the hard part,” Hiccup said. He pointed to the needle that Astrid had discarded on the nightstand. “Can I have that?”

Astrid handed it to him, watched as he carefully threaded the needle.

“Thanks, Hiccup.”

He just have her a small smile before focusing again on his task.

“You guys have to tell me when you get hurt,” he said. “I’m in charge of you, so it’s my responsibility.”

“But you’re already shouldering so much.”

Hiccup didn’t look at her. “Because it’s my job.”

Astrid reached over, put a hand on Hiccup’s shoulder. “Just let us help when we can.”

“You could do that by telling me about injuries.”

Astrid sighed in defeat, let her hand slide away. “Yeah, you’re right.

“Okay.” Hiccup repositioned Astrid’s leg on his lap. “Sorry, but this is going to hurt.”

Astrid gripped the bottle of alcohol tight. “Just do it.”

With two fingers, Hiccup held the wound closed. With his other hand he wielded the needle and thread. Astrid gave a pained and startled cry as the needle poked her for the first time, then covered up any weakness by taking a swig of alcohol. Another reason that she’d hidden the injury was that she didn’t want anyone, especially Hiccup, to see her weak. She had a reputation to keep. But it was breaking now. At least, for Hiccup.

The stitching was done in silence save for Astrid’s occasional sounds of pain. She heaved out a long breath when it was over and Hiccup was cleaning around the wound with the cloth.

“Astrid, promise you’ll tell me next time something like this happens.” Hiccup looked at her very earnestly, and Astrid couldn’t help but listen to that gaze. She lowered her eyes a little.

“Okay. I promise.” 


End file.
